World Report

Published Thursday, April 24, 2008

Protesters in Canberra for Olympic torch relay

CANBERRA, Australia -- Runners carried the Olympic torch along crowd-lined streets of Australia's capital Thursday, unimpeded by pockets of protest by supporters and detractors of China's government that left several people detained.

Thousands lined the Canberra relay route on the cool and sunny autumn day as police manned crowd-control barriers and vowed that nothing would stop the torch from completing its three-hour journey.

The event began without major incident as a half-dozen officers formed a loose cordon around the runner. Overhead, an airplane sky writer wrote the words "Free Tibet" in white letters.

Suicide bombings, attacks in Afghanistan kill 13

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan -- A spate of suicide bombings and other attacks on security forces in southern Afghanistan Wednesday left 13 people dead and 24 others wounded, officials said.

In Kandahar province, a suicide bomber blew himself up next to a vehicle carrying intelligence agents in the border town of Spin Boldak, killing three civilians.

In neighboring Helmand province, a suicide bomber struck a police convoy, killing two officers and wounding three, said district police chief Khairudin Shuhja. Shuhja was in the convoy but was not injured in the attack.

Southern Afghanistan is the center of the Taliban-led insurgency. Militants regularly use suicide attacks in their fight against Afghan and foreign troops in the country, but most victims are civilians.

Pakistan frees pro-Taliban leader

PESHAWAR, Pakistan -- Pakistan freed a pro-Taliban cleric and quickly signed an accord with his hard-line group Monday, the first major step by the new government to talk peace with Islamic militants and break with President Pervez Musharraf's policy of using force.

The day's developments began with the release of Sufi Muhammad, who is believed in his 70s, after more than five years in custody following his dispatch of thousands of followers to fight in Afghanistan.

A few hours later, the government of North West Frontier Province said Muhammad's group signed a pact renouncing violence in return for being allowed to peacefully campaign for Islamic law. Security forces have the right to "act against" any extremists who attack the government.